


Together

by starryeyed (kaylie153)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Getting Together, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Mark Lee Are Best Friends, Light Angst, M/M, Mark Lee is oblivious, Pining, donghyuck is pining and in love, hinted luwoo, markhyuck, mentioned chensung, mentioned nomin, mostly donghyuck-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:22:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23520766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaylie153/pseuds/starryeyed
Summary: “So,” he lets the word roll off his tongue, watching them carefully. “Are you two together?”“We’re all together right now,” Hyuck speaks around a mouthful of chips, sizing Renjun up with a bored expression.Renjun huffs, glaring at his friend. “Are you together in the romantic sense?”“Yeah,” Donghyuck shrugs, eyes focused back down on the food he let drop from his fingers.Mark splutters, going completely red and throwing his hands up. “No, we are NOT! He’s joking.”(or, no matter the connotation, hyuck will always say that he and mark are together)
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 16
Kudos: 330





	Together

**Author's Note:**

> Just some thought I've had stuck in my head for awhile!

**jaeminnie🌸** _ 16:35 _

hey hyuckie, are u and mark together?

**me** _ 16:35 _

yeah, what’s up

**jaeminnie🌸** _16:36_

can u tell him to check his messages??? injunnie is boutta bust a blood vessel

**me** _16:37_

lol k, 

* * *

They're 14 and 15 years old the first time their friends question their relationship. 

Renjun seems to be the designated speaker, because he looks between their friends before sitting up straight, folding his arms on the table, and leaning forward. He eyes the both of them, Donghyuck ignoring Renjun in favor of continuing to eat, and Mark shifting uncomfortably from the stare Renjunn has leveled at the older. 

“So,” he lets the word roll off his tongue, watching them carefully. “Are you two together?”

“We’re all together right now,” Hyuck speaks around a mouthful of chips, sizing Renjun up with a bored expression. 

Renjun huffs, glaring at his friend. “Are you together in the  _ romantic  _ sense?”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck shrugs, eyes focused back down on the food he let drop from his fingers. 

Mark splutters, going completely red and throwing his hands up. “No, we are NOT! He’s joking.”

Renjun catches the blush on Hyuck’s cheeks, the furrow of his brows, before he lifts his head, smirking and throwing an arm around Mark’s shoulders. “Aw, hyung, you don’t wanna date me?”

Mark shakes him off, and they all laugh, satisfied with the answers they received. Only Donghyuck doesn't laugh, smiling softly, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. Renjun cocks an eyebrow in interest but keeps his mouth closed. 

* * *

Mark begs Hyuck and Jeno to attend a party with him. His teammate on the basketball team insisted he come and Mark has a hard time telling anyone no. Especially this guy, who for some reason can get under Mark's skin better than Hyuck can. The younger tries not to be jealous.

Jeno drives them and when they arrive, they discover Mark is already drunk. He greets his friends at the door, smiling brightly then pinching Hyuck's cheek, telling him he looks beautiful. Jeno glances between the two of them but looking at Donghyuck's flaming face, he chooses not to say anything. 

They’re not really there to have fun, more to keep Mark company, so Jeno doesn’t drink and Hyuck holds tightly to the cup that was pushed into his hand when they got there. 

Mark joined them against a wall for all of five minutes before disappearing into the crowd, claiming he’d be back. 

A hand ghosts over Donghyuck’s waist, bringing him close to Jeno’s side. An attempt not to lose each other in this constantly shifting and roiling party. They talk quietly to themselves, Jeno complaining about how oblivious they’re other best friend can be sometimes, and Hyuck gratefully chugs down his cup. He won’t dare break Jaemin’s trust, even if both of these boys are being obtuse. 

Eventually, Mark does reappear, dragging a very tall, very handsome boy behind him, and the youngest of the group feels his skin prick up in some emotion he’d rather not name right now. Mark smiles up at him and pushes him forward a bit so he stumbles into their bubble. 

“Guys, this is Yukhei, my friend from basketball.”

They nod at the intruder in greeting, who grins wide and waves a hand that’s much too big. 

“Hey. Jeno and Donghyuck, right?” They nod again. “I’ve heard a lot about y’all.”

“I recognize you from games,” Jeno cheerfully replies, his hand even tighter on Hyuck’s waist. 

Hyuck looks passed the tall boy to see Mark, eyes focused on Jeno’s hand. But when he forces his gaze to meet the smaller’s, he only smiles prettily. 

“Jeno, come with me to the kitchen.”

Before Hyuck can even protest, Mark grabs Jeno and drags him off, who is left to send an apologetic smile over his shoulder. 

Yukhei takes the vacancy on the wall and squeezes next to the shorter. He leans close and Hyuck tries not to shiver at the breath running down his neck. 

“Are you and Jeno dating?” 

Hyuck shakes his head, completely appalled at the question. “Not at all.”

Yukhei laughs and for some reason, the noise is nice enough to make Hyuck relax, but only a bit. “Y’all seemed close, I wasn’t sure.” He goes quiet for a moment, and when Donghyuck peeks up at him, he sees he’s looking through the crowd for something— or someone. “What about you and Mark?” His eyes meet Hyuck’s, whose lips part in shock. “Are you together?”

“N-” The younger feels eyes on him and scans the crowd in front of them. Mark watches from the doorway into the kitchen, his brows pulled close over his eyes. He’s glaring and Hyuck isn’t sure why, but he also knows he wouldn’t mind seeing Mark mad more often. He turns back to Yukhei, finding him leaning close and it passes through his mind that maybe he should say he’s taken so the giant won’t try to kiss him in a drunken stupor. “Yeah, we’re together.”

Yukhei smiles wide, nodding his head violently and Donghyuck fears for his brain swinging around in there. “I knew it. You two remind me of me and my boyfriend.”

So he wasn’t interested... “Your boyfriend?”

Somehow the smile grows even wider. “Yeah. He’s a year older than me, a freshman in college.” He pulls out his phone to show Donghyuck a picture of the two of them, Yukhei planting a smooch onto the cheek of one of the prettiest boys he’s ever seen. 

“You’re cute together.”

He nods his big head, and Hyuck thinks that if Yukhei had a tail, it would be wagging right now. “You and Mark are too.”

* * *

Maybe when they're 17 and 18, Donghyuck expects things to change.

**injun🎨💝** _ 19:57 _

pls tell me u and mark are tgethr rn

**me** _ 20:00 _

yeah

y?

**injun🎨💝** _ 20:01 _

chensung and i need a break from the new couple

where r yall??

Hyuck turns to Mark, murmuring that the boys would be coming over. He tries not to feel disappointed as Mark sits up, pulling his limbs from their cuddle pile on the couch. It would be 15 minutes before the rest of their group showed up, but Mark leaves Hyuck where he's spread out and heads to the kitchen. From his spot on the couch, he can see Mark pulling chips and popcorn out of the pantry, and stacking glasses from a cabinet onto the counter. 

He feels bad for feeling upset. It’s not like he doesn’t want to see his friends. But this was his best friend, and he didn’t exactly have a lot of time left with him before he graduated and left them all for university. 

So Hyuck sighs, but drags himself off the couch, walking into the kitchen, intending to help the older. He’s gifted with a smile and a pinch to his cheek. 

* * *

To celebrate Mark being home for his first uni break, they all go out to their favorite diner. It’s where they’ve all celebrated good times in their lives, including Jeno and Jaemin finally getting together, the time Jisung won a dance competition, and most recently when Renjun was offered a spot at a prestigious art school for early admission. 

Everyone else is already there when Mark and Donghyuck push through the door together. Mark smiles softly at the back of Hyuck’s head, who himself is blushed a pretty shade of pink. 

Renjun raises an eyebrow, Jaemin murmurs into Jeno’s ear, and Jisung feeds Chenle a fry dipped in a vanilla milkshake, both completely oblivious to what their older friends are declaring a crisis. 

They join the table, Hyuck squishing into the booth with the youngest, while Mark grabs a chair from a neighboring table. 

“I didn’t know you guys were coming together.”

“Aren’t we always together?”

Renjun nods, though his eyes are stuck on the way Mark watches Hyuck turn his head and whisper to Chenle. He feels Jaemin go stiff beside him but before he can turn to him, his phone vibrates on the table. 

**cute ½ of nomin💘** _ 13:23 _

OMG 

OMGLAJDHAKSHHSJA

**me** _ 13:24 _

WHAT??

**cute ½ of nomin💘** _ 13:24 _

look at hyuckie’s neck 👀👀

The older snaps his eyes to the neckline of Donghyuck’s sweater which has pulled funny because of the way he reaches over to smack Jisung. There, right at the juncture of his neck and shoulder, is a mottled bruise. His eyes fall down to the table, where he catches Mark’s fingers gingerly picking at the sleeve of his best friend’s sweater. He watches Hyuck twist his hand around so that Mark can play with his fingers instead of the sweater. 

Renjun turns to catch Jaemin’s eye, who looks just as perplexed. 

Jeno clears his throat, and everyone turns to look at him. A small blush creeps onto his cheeks at all the eyes on him. 

“Okay,” he starts, eyes stuck in the place between Mark and Donghyuck. “I swear this is the last time we’ll ask, but...” the group holds their collective breath - or maybe Renjun only feels like they do that -, “are you and Mark together? Like,  _ dating _ , together?”

Donghyuck looks at their friends, trying to figure out what they’re all thinking. “Yeah.”

Everyone swivels their curious gazes to Mark, expecting a blushing, stuttering denial. Instead, he interlocks his fingers with Hyuck’s and just smiles, a blush high on his cheekbones. 

“Since when?!” 

No one is surprised Jaemin sounds so shocked, because they’re all taken aback, but his shrill voice makes them all jump. 

Hyuck laughs, leaning back into the booth behind him. “Um, since the summer?”

“No,” Mark pipes up. “We were dating before school ended.”

“Oh yeah,” Donghyuck nods, looking over at his boyfriend, with maybe all the stars crowded into his eyes. “It was like, right before you graduated.”

“You’ve been dating all this time and didn’t bother to say anything?” They are, however, surprised to hear Jisung question the two. 

Mark shrugs. “We weren’t hiding it. I thought we were obvious.”

Renjun scoffs and Jaemin rolls his eyes. “Jeno and Jaemin are obvious. Hell, even Chenle and Jisung are obvious. You two were not. It seemed exactly the same as always. Except maybe, you turned down group hangouts more often.” He feels like a child for going red when he realizes why they would want more time alone. 

“You guys never asked. We would’ve told you.”

But more than anything, every single one of them is shocked to see Mark tug Donghyuck close, plant a kiss on his cheek and smile smugly at them, including his boyfriend. 

They let the situation settle over them, quiet and contemplative. Until Jisung leans onto the table, his eyes bored but his mouth quirked up in a smirk. “However cute you two are, Hyuck-hyung, you should still probably cover that hickey up.”

Donghyuck bursts into laughter, Mark goes red and slams his head onto the table, and the rest join in Hyuck’s boisterous laughter. 

* * *

Whether they were best friends, pining idiots, or shy boyfriends, Donghyuck would always say they were together. And Mark has never quite minded being stuck with him. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed, please leave a kudos and a comment! Especially rn when ao3 isn't counting hits unless users are logged in??
> 
> feel free to find at one of these links!  
> [stan twt](https://twitter.com/moonctzen_1)  
> [fanfic twt](https://twitter.com/kayliesarchive)


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